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LUNCH BREAK READS

TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2026

Happy Tuesday, Lunch Club!

Before we kick off today’s edition, I wanted to make an editorial note: I try to find accessible stories, whether it is a soft paywall or a gift link, because I want you to have as much access to this great reporting as possible. Sometimes a story is too good to not share (our third story today), so if you ever have an issue accessing any of these links, reply to this e-mail and I will help you out.

With that out of the way, I hope you enjoy today’s edition of Lunch Break Reads.

Enjoy your lunch.

Brett

01 • ~20 Minute Read
The Guardian Stephen Robert Morse
The man who blew up a nuclear power station and disappeared
Rodney Wilkinson was the best fencer in South Africa at 21. In December 1982, he walked four limpet mines into Koeberg nuclear power station, pulled the pins on each one, had farewell drinks with colleagues standing on top of the devices, and rode out on his bicycle. All four detonated.

The damage: roughly half a billion dollars and 18 months of delay to the apartheid state's crown infrastructure project. He was recruited by the ANC after smuggling stolen plant blueprints into Zimbabwe. He has lived in a coastal town six hours from Cape Town for decades, and almost nobody knows who he is.
Read the story →
02 • ~12 Minute Read
The Atlantic Adam Begley
The Secret of Elizabeth Strout’s Appeal
Elizabeth Strout's 11th novel, The Things We Never Say, centers on Artie Dam, a high school history teacher in Massachusetts who has been secretly planning his own suicide. He nearly drowns when a real boating accident intervenes, and the brush with death briefly revives him. But the novel's deeper pressure is political: Artie watches the 2024 Trump election as a slow catastrophe, and his emotional world contracts accordingly. Adam Begley's profile traces Strout's method, her plain language, her distrust of easy resolution, and her ability to satisfy both critics and millions of ordinary readers at the same time.
Unlocked for LBR Readers →
03 • ~31 Minute Read
The New Yorker Anna Weiner
The Life and Times of an American Tween
As I mentioned up top, this story might be paywalled for you, but it is too good to not share with you all. If you are unable to access it, respond to this e-mail and I will help you out.

Mira is a 12 year old girl living in San Francisco's Outer Sunset. She stands at the precipice of her teenage years and all that comes next. The New Yorker's Anna Wiener spent months with her family, and the result is one of the more precise accounts of what sixth grade actually feels like today.
Read the story →
04 • ~7 Minute Read
The Bitter Southerner Ben E. Mims
Oh, Debra
America never got its own Champagne or Parmigiano-Reggiano; what we have instead is Little Debbie. Ben E. Mims drove from Atlanta to Little Debbie Park in Collegedale, Tennessee, finding a largely empty concrete pavilion with snack cake sculptures and a bronze Miss Debbie with shark eyes. He came away convinced that post-war convenience foods are the most distinctly American cuisine the country ever produced. The Oatmeal Creme Pie was a Depression-era 5-cent treat; the Christmas Tree Cake has no European analog. These are not (just) junk food, they tell a uniquely American story. For better or for worse.
Read the story →

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